How is our experience going with Head to Heart? We talk with founder, Johnny Covey and share how we are getting out of our heads and in to our hearts in some critical times in our life with our family members.

We cover the basics of Head to Heart with founder, Johnny Covey and how we worked to get out of fright and flight (head) and into our hearts with our kids. Listen to this session and see what we learned and see how you might find ways to help your kids when they get in their Fright-Flight so they can make an amazing choice to create a better way for themselves.

THEN, get a Head to Heart group together and/or send us your Head to Heart experiences. We want to hear how this is working for you!

Julie Nelson, author of Parenting with Spiritual Power, discusses how the voice of a trusted grandmother figure can help you in your parenting. Grandparents say that if they had known how great grandparenting would be, they would have skipped right to it. Why is that and how can we use the wisdom grandparents have to make our parenting more enjoyable and impactful. The “grandma version” of ourselves is wise and witty and helps us to achieve the balance we need to survive the years until we do indeed become grandparents.

We chat with Head to Heart founder, Johnny Covey about how to get yourself and your kids out of the fright and flight (head) and into action (heart) to face fears, solve problems and find success in your daily life and peace in your children’s lives.

Head to Heart is a framework that allows you to Choose to Change and Create. We all have had experiences that keep us from Creating what we want. Johnny spent 12 years searching for the answer to the question Why don’t I choose to do what I know? He read hundreds of books, attended conferences all over the country and invested over 10,000 hours to get the answer: The Head to Heart framework. Yes, he is related to that other well-known Covey so this figuring out thing is in his genes! His great uncle Steven R. Covey taught about being proactive, Choosing your response. The Head to Heart framework allows anyone, regardless of their previous Experiences to Choose their response. It is so digestible that anyone can understand it, so doable that they will actually use it, so duplicable that they can teach it right away.

When we are using our Head we hold back, worried about what others think about us. In our Heart we are able to be ourselves and fully express ourselves. We Create rather than Control.

This session is the How To Get Started. We will have future episodes where we discuss our results and what we found as we use this process in our lives.

Nancy shares her family’s scary social media experience and discusses tips to help kids navigate social media with clinical social worker, Kim Kettle. Learn how a mom who set up incredibly distinct rules for using technology found a predator taking aim at her child and how you can keep your child safe while teaching them how to have good social media skills. Your child is all alone in the social media landscape and you have to step up and be their guide and their support in this lonely space.

Could you be missing your child’s childhood? Modern parents struggle with something that parents of previous generations never did–the persistence of the cell phone/smart phone/internet. Even 10 years ago, the use of these devices was not so everpresent in our lives. By being plugged in, we can actually miss our children’s childhood. We discuss what we can do to ensure we don’t miss our children’s lives while still living in the modern age.

“I can recall a time when you were out with your children you were really with them. You engaged in a back and forth dialog even if they were pre-verbal. You said, ‘Look at the bus, see the doggie, etc.’ Now I see you on the phone, pushing your kids on the swings while distracted by your devices. You think you are spending time with them but you are not present really. When I see you pick up your kids at day care while you’re on the phone, it breaks my heart. They hear your adult conversations. What do they overhear? What is the message they receive? I am not important; I am not important.”

Lindsay shares her feelings about entitlement and how to raise children who don’t feel like the are entitled to everything. Learn easy ways to help your child learn to value what she is given and work for what he wants.

With some tips, your kids can learn to handle bullying (the garden variety). We discuss what works in the elementary, middle and high school years. Check out more tips on the website http://www.stopbullying.gov/.

Be a Role Model—Don’t Be a Bully. Show them how to treat others with respect and kindness

Use situations to teach—if you see something in a show or in life that is wrong or right, point it out

Role Play with your kids to help them respond under stress

IF they get bullied, replay the situation and try out different responses

Can your child say STOP and look the bully in the eye?

Can your child deflect with humor?

Is your child too shy and needs to walk away?

Don’t downplay their feelings (empathize with them but don’t make them a victim)

Teach your child how to stay safe:

Stay away from places where bullying happens

Hang where there are adults. Most bullying happens when adults are not aroud

Talk to someone so you don’t feel alone

Read Wimpy Kid

Teach your children to embrace their own uniqueness and not want to be just like everyone else

Stand up for others and be kind to a kid being bullied. Show them someone cares

We were raised to think you need to be with someone to be complete. We discuss raising our daughters so they can go it alone in their lives–so they feel complete without having someone else. This frees them to be everything they can be whether or not they have a relationship with a significant other.

Shelly responds to a listener email asking why in an earlier podcast, she told moms not to follow the Baby Wise method. Hear her response and what the research shows is the best way to help your child feel secure.

Shelly has never nursed her babies for very long and she thought she could not do it because she is so skinny. This time, she wanted to protect her milk and nurse for as long as possible. BUT she wanted to lose weight as well. She decided that it was something she could do if she took the right approach. Using the app My Fitness Pal, Shelly logged her calories and exercise and made sure she ate enough calories to keep the milk but also the right amount to lost weight. Listen to how she was able to lose the weight while having the richest milk she has ever produced.

Shelly has been writing down the things that new moms REALLY need to share with her daughters. We discuss what she found out and how you can really help the new moms you know (since you probably forgot what it is really like).

Here is what we recently found at Costco. Can you believe it? 11 pounds of Nutella. Of course we did not buy it but jsut the thought made me happy. And I think there are a few new moms who could use some Nutella during those LONG nights when you think you will never sleep again. Ladies–if anyone deserves 11 pounds of Nutella, it is you!

Understanding your baby can be as simple as interpreting his cries. From Nancy’s book, Baby Signing 1, 2, 3, Shelly read about Priscilla Dunstan and her ability to interpret baby cries to understand what it is that babies need. After testing her baby language theory on more than 1,000 infants around the world, Priscilla says there are five words that all babies 0–3 months old say—regardless of race and culture;

Do you know what a leprechaun looker is or that there is a Pi holiday? We did not either. We discuss the new hysteria over holidays and birthdays powered by Pintrest and how to let your kids know you love them while not going crazy.

When your child has to have surgery, how can you prepare them so it is less stressful for them and YOU! We talk about what to do before the day of surgery and what not to do as well as how to make the transition easier.

Karen Reno shares her tips and ideas for how to get products and services for your child’s school. If they need technology or even landscaping, there is probably a grant or a program to help. Big businesses like Target and Lowes are ready to help and so are smaller companies in your community. Learn how Karen was able to get donations for many things from shade trees to electronic classroom survey systems donated for very little effort.

Original co-host Tricia is back to join us with her wit and wisdom. She tells us her tale of following her husband’s dream and how it has affected their family. Learn how and what she is doing now and what life lessons she has learned.

Sometimes well-meaning family members come into town and upset our fine-crafted schedules. We want to spend time with them because they are not with us everyday. But the aftermath can last long after they return home. Learn how to keep your kids on a schedule even when family come into town and how to get them back to normal after family have left.

You never have to mash or mix or blend another meal again for your baby! Tracey Murkett, co-author of Baby-led Weaning, discusses how to help your baby love real food and not be picky all while making family dinner time more enjoyable for everyone in the house–even when you have children spread in age from 20 years to 6 months.